No man’s land…

I always park in the less crowded sections of parking lots because I hate when people park too close to me. Also, I don’t particularly appreciate when they ram a shopping cart into my vehicle, which has happened a few times.

Now that I have a gorgeous new vehicle, I park way out in no man’s land. Far from the crowds and other cars, plus the walk will do me good. All the nicer vehicles are parked out in no man’s land as well. I am sure the owners feel like I do. Today, my new truck Skye was all alone.

Last week, I had to pick up a few last-minute items at the grocery store. I had a list with about 15 things on it. I remembered the list from home, which was a miracle in itself! The first store that I went to was packed. As I started to walk around, the store was out of half the items I needed to get; not wanted to get, required to get.

I had given up and left my grocery cart in the middle of an aisle and walked out. I would have to go to another store anyway; I was not going to go through two checkout lines.

The next store I went to was a madhouse. They have so much crap piled up in the entranceway it’s hard to get through. Then when you get through, someone stops right at the entranceway and starts deciding where to go first. This makes me crazy! I thought to myself, walk in and move the fuck out of the way.

I tried to keep my cool and not get irritated about how busy the store was. I did find everything on my list but was dumbfounded how the prices went up just in the last couple of weeks; significantly.

When I got to the checkout, I was exhausted after a day in the production kitchen and out making deliveries. I just wanted to pay and leave. I remembered my reusable bags which was the second miracle of the day. I loaded my groceries on the conveyor belt.

The cashier asked me if I wanted him to help me bag my groceries. I told him yes, please. After he stopped ringing out my items, he watched me bagging my own shit. I put a couple of my bags in front of him to help, and he still watched me bag everything myself. When he told me my total, which was about two hundred bucks, I asked him if he had applied his employee discount. He didn’t know what I meant and where I was going with this.

I told him that I expected his employee discount since he stood there and watched me do his job. I asked him if he needed a manager to apply the discount. He was so confused. I told him not to offer to help someone then just stand there watching with his arms crossed. I paid and told him to have a happy holiday and wake up already. A weak moment for me indeed.

I am not a “Karen” usually. I am not that guy (or gal). I’ve had to deal with my share of Karen’s throughout my retail management career. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut. How many other people did he do the same thing to? How many older people? It was 5:30 pm and everyone in the store was shopping after work; not one of them looked like they wanted to be there like me. Everyone looked tired and frazzled. No wonder his line was so long. I guess the baggers went home at 5 pm. Granted, at least he was working and not sitting on his ass, but if you are paid to do a job, then do it right.

Today was a shopper’s dream. I needed a few perishable items for the week and sailed through the store. I went back to the first store I went to the other day, the one I left my cart in. The store where the bagging incident occurred has lost me as a customer because of one kid; for good. I’ve given this store so many chances over the years, now I am done. I’ll go without before going back.

People are at their wit’s end right now with everything going on in our world. They are struggling through their days, at least I am. All I want is someone to be helpful to customers and make their expensive shopping experience a little bit easier. That’s a simple request, just some customer service.

I haven’t written a piece about me bitching about something for months, but this put me over the edge. The funny thing was when I left the checkout area, a couple of customers behind me gave me the thumbs up and were smiling. Hopefully, he helped bag their shit for them.

Ok. Rant over. Sorry, but I needed to get it out. Have a great night, guys.